Jets: The Fandom Menace

Recently the topic of Bengal rivalry was raised and all the typical villains were trotted out as in a police line-up for the conversation. Here were all of the standard divisional scum bags and, of course, San Francisco was included because of two notable Bengal defeats in the bitter days or yore. Yet one name-worthy thug, one that has managed to cause real trouble for the Stripes recently and no one seems to notice, is the stinking New York Jets.

This mouthy gang seems to always be in Cincinnati's way, and I feel I have been forced to root against them more vigorously than I have teams within the AFC North for the past few years.

It all started with the the last game of the regular season in 2009. The Bengals had already clinched the division and the game was cold and at night. Marvin Lewis played his starters for a possession and got them the hell out of there. J.T. O'Sullivan lined up under center for the Bengals and the Jets won 37-0.

The next week, wild-card week, the Jets got them again in the much-more-important rematch. What seemed so promising once Laveranues Coles caught a touchdown in the opening drive, crumbled when Jets offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, broke the Bengals' back and spirit with a tremendous sequence of play-calling that caught Cincinnati sleeping. The Jets went on to the AFC Championship game, while the Bengals went back to the drawing board.

Then came Thanksgiving the next season. The Bengals were mired in an ugly losing streak. The football world was perplexed as to why Cincinnati was so bad. Earlier that year, with straight faces, there were mentions of the Super Bowl around the Bengals training camp. By the time Turkey Day rolled around, however, all of that had dissipated.

Nonetheless, the Bengals were playing on Thanksgiving and that made it an even cooler holiday than usual. A win on national television could have restored a little pride on the season, but instead, Carson Palmer threw into tons of coverage and Brad Smith decided to have his best game in the NFL that night. All in all, it was turned out to be another green football week against the Jets.

Then last year, 2011, Andy Dalton and the Bengals once again confounded the football wizards, only this time by winning when no one thought they had much of a chance. Before they did, though, the Jets gave us reason to worry about Dalton. In the second preseason game, the Jets blitzed Dalton and forced him into two first-half picks. The Jets won again, 27-7.

As for the regular season, when it came down the stretch, it was Cincinnati and New York jockeying for a playoff spot. The Bengals held up enough while the Jets imploded, typified by a Week 17 loss to the Dolphins that allowed Cincinnati to lose the final week and still get into the playoffs.

Watching Mark Sanchez throw his team out of the hunt was satisfying. The fact the offense leaned so heavily upon his shoulder was the result of the coaching staff listening to the media and unhappy-player grumblings. The Jets made it to two straight AFC Championships by bullying their way into position. They tried getting cute last year with the pass and came up short. Both Cincinnati and New York seem to be best when they stick to more basic football philosophy. The Bengals brought in Terrell Owens and everything fell apart. The Jets brought in Plaxico Burress and didn't fare much better.

This year, both teams are once more in similar positions in the fact that they are still recognized as second-tier behind the perennial favorites. Many assume that among a handful of other teams, New York and Cincinnati are already vying for a wild-card spot within the AFC. As time goes by, these two organizations will continue to try and take out their respective heavy-hitters while keeping an eye on each other. Both are eager to get things going, and, lo and behold, look who's first on the preseason schedule. Why, it's the Jets.

Mojokong—Darth Namath 

Compounding Problems

Paul Guenther, Bengals linebackers coach, must have mixed emotions about his newest gig.  On one hand, having his own unit to coach is a promotion from his duties with the team last year and is a necessary step up the coaching ladder.  On the other hand, though, he is faced with a group that lacks quality depth and one that continues to face bad news this offseason.  If the linebackers have a nice showing in 2012, Guenther's accomplishments will be big working with so little.

This week was especially tough.  First Brandon Johnson departed for Pittsburgh of all places, and then Dontay Moch was notified of his official four-game suspension to start the year.

The Bengals seemed to have simply been finished with Brandon Johnson.  He languished on the free-agent market for months, reports that the Steelers were interested cropped up weeks ago and still the Bengals sat idly by and prepared the season without him.  I don't know if it was a contractual stalemate or if Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer simply want to give the youth more of a chance, but the guy knew the system well, was noted for his coverage skills and gave the team some really quality games in his four years in Cincinnati. 

Dontay Moch is still a frustrating mystery.  After missing all of last year with migraine headaches, we Bengal fans were anxious to see what the third-round pick can do this year.  Now the sample size of his evaluation will be four games less this season after blowing it in a drug test and the wait continues.  Moch is said to have pass-rushing skills but that is about all I know of the player.  If he can keep his head feeling okay and read the labels to his dietary supplements more closely, we may be pleased with his performance, but unfortunately, even getting suited up has been a challenge for Moch.

Another injury-challenged linebacker is Roddrick Muckelroy.   After appearing in 14 games on special teams in 2010, Muckelroy blew his Achilles tendon in the first practice of training camp last season.  Both Muck and Moch have a lot to prove that they are healthy, fast enough and ready to contribute on defense, and not just special teams. 

Rey Maualuga informed the world once more that he has been playing his position incorrectly.  I feel we get one of these confessions about once a year from Rey.  Normally it's something to the effect that he is either playing hesitantly, or that he is thinking too much and not reacting enough, but this time is that he was hurt last year and should have let his backups play more.  Rey is still hoping the NFL will ignore his latest indiscretion at a local night club, but the talons of Roger Goodell could still rip into the rock star linebacker before the year gets going.  Maualuga has not become what we expected of him (as unrealistic as those expectations may have been), and to hear him always making excuses for his mediocrity is becoming as tired as his drinking shenanigans.  All the world wants from him is a good middle linebacker, but he has been too many other persona to make that his reality. I hope the league does free him of suspension and that he finally just shuts up and plays football the way Mike Zimmer wants him to.

So, with a veteran gone to our rival, a young player coming back from a major injury, another one facing a four game suspension, and yet another facing a possible suspension himself, the linebacking corps is left largely up to Thomas Howard and Manny Lawson, neither of which are young, and the commando Dan Skuta.  I was surprised to see Skuta resign with Cincinnati after getting attention elsewhere, but as raw as he is, his fearlessness and reckless abandon make him fun to watch.  He put in some valuable game time last year on defense and if Maualuga is sat down for a couple of games, Skuta is certainly not the worst backup out there.

The only character in the fold still worth mention is of course, "Not Quite Perfect" Vontaze Burfict. While a lot of people are generating huge amounts of excitement around this guy, let us not forget why he was not drafted.  His talent once oozed from his pores, but as time went on and he began to believe the hype, until the one time top-ranked high-school player in America got so lazy he wasn't even drafted.  He is the quintessential project, a wicked experiment, Frankenstein's monster.  As it stands now, his chances of making the team and getting some reps are better with the rocky road the linebackers have taken this offseason, but he himself could implode with the quickness if not careful and focused.

There is a lot of unrefined, volatile talent within this unit; it's like linebacker yellow cake.  Some of these young guys have the spark within them to become monsters on the gridiron, but it's hard to extract it safely from them without ruining it for the rest of the team.  There are many complications within this group but its potential is staggering.  If the injury bug crops up in that area, coupled with the suspensions, we could be looking at a rather shabby starting trio for short stretches.  Nonetheless, it's up to the Bengal brains, particularly of the new guy, Mark Guenther, to get this operation up and off the ground safely.  If all goes right, the tables will turn and the question marks become stable contributors.  If all goes wrong? Let's not think about that.


Mojokong—thirsty for football.

The Lamest Types of Hate

Now that the euphoria over the draft and  the excitement about free agency has come and gone, a national backtracking has begun in regards to the Bengals' chances this season.  While most of this lurking doubt is awash with the old attitude that Cincinnati is a cursed football place that will never lift itself out of the muck along the Ohio River, others have attempted to point out more logical approaches to their naysaying.  Yet even these sound silly to me.

The first and perhaps most reasonable explanation to predicting a letdown for the Bengals in 2012 is that the departure of Jerome Simpson has rendered the team empty of a capable number-two receiver.

Firstly, a number-two, or complimentary receiver, is simply the worst of the two starters at the position.  A slot receiver might be better than the number-two receiver because of their unique skill-set—as is the case with the Bengals—and with the evolution of the tight end and spread formations, the “other” wide-out becomes less critical each year.  While Antonio Brown and Torrey Smith are both quality young players, neither define why their respective teams will succeed or fail.

Secondly, who is to say that the next crop of receivers won't produce an upgrade over Simpson?  Perhaps the national media only remembers the highlights, but we who watched every catch and every drop have a complete understanding of the real Jerome Simpson.  A gifted athlete? Obviously.  A crisp route-runner and reliable third-down guy? No way.  He was one of the remaining questionable attitudes on the team, and frankly, he was dumb.  Putting his infamous mailbox of dope aside for the moment, the man couldn't keep his emotions in check on the field, often fighting and drawing penalties.  I don't mind mixing it up, but I always felt that Simpson was giving in to the taunts of his opponents and it distracted him from his job.  Until he can show more maturity, he will continue to be a potential liability both as a football player and as a dude.

The next generation is eager to allow us to forget all about No. 89.  Mohamed Sanu has all the early superlatives and comparisons to make him the front runner of becoming the next number-two, but Marvin Jones and maybe even Armon Binns will not likely go quietly into the night.  What Simpson could not do is make football simple.  With A.J. Green drawing the lion share of the attention from opposing secondaries, all the other guy has to do is run the right route and catch the damn ball.

If anything were to happen to Green, then I would be really worried.  Maybe that is the best argument for a decent number-two, general depth.  Then again, you could say that about any true superstar.  A.J. Green is irreplaceable, but if he were to go down to injury, the Bengals would no longer have a true number-one and some serious improvising would be necessary on the part of Jay Gruden.  So in that case, yes, the Bengals do not have a viable substitute for their best player, but I don't see that as an automatic reason that the Bengals will not live up to their expectations this season. 

If any player departure has that deep of an impact on this team, I would think it would be the absence of Cedric Benson.  Throughout his career in Cincinnati, Benson has been the only consistent offensive cog in the striped wheel, playing along side a cast of rotating teammates including three different quarterbacks.   Not to say that BenJarvus Green-Ellis isn't an upgrade—I think that he is—but the team will likely face a more profound adjustment to life without Benson rather than life without Simpson. 

So even though I don't see it, the Bengals could slide a bit from their mark last season but not because they haven't adequately replaced their complimentary receiver. This is still a young, blossoming group, from the o-line and the skill players, to the quarterback and the offensive coordinator.  There is a plenty of untapped potential that is seeping through this summer and the fruits should be visible sooner than later, and if said potential is to be realized, why would it not transpire, at least in part, this season?  Sadly, the Bengals will have to win multiple Super Bowls to earn the respect of the “outside” media before ever getting the nod as a capable franchise, and while some criticism is more fair than others, we as Bengal fans must stand up to flimsy rationale that the Bengals will struggle in 2012 because of the departure of an average receiver.

Mojokong—not laying down.